


Commonly Known Facts

by athenejen



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Gen, Gossip, Other, Pre-Slash, holiday_on_ice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-29
Updated: 2010-05-29
Packaged: 2017-10-13 22:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/142619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athenejen/pseuds/athenejen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hogwarts AU! A tiny vignette from what may someday become a larger universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Commonly Known Facts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rinfics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinfics/gifts).



> Written as a secondary gift fic for rinfics as part of the holiday_on_ice 2010 fic exchange, originally posted [here](http://athenejen.livejournal.com/66840.html). More than one of the prompts appealed to me, so my brain started generating lots of other ideas... and now this exists. It is more of a snapshot in time than a full-out fic, and it's essentially a somewhat off-the-cuff experiment, but it seemed like it might be fun to post it as a little bonus fic for rinfics. Please note that I messed around with everyone's ages a little, but they should still be in approximately the same order, just closer in age. Everyone mentioned in this vignette is in Year 5 or 6. Feedback and constructive criticism is welcomed and loved, always.

It was a commonly known fact that Brian Joubert and Daisuke Takahashi hated each other. Or at least disliked each other. Or maybe they just avoided each other. Something like that, anyway, so the gossip machine claimed -- and at a school where all the students had magical means of keeping tabs on everyone else, well, the gossip machine was more of a juggernaut than even the most tricked-out military tank.

The thing was, Patrick was pretty certain that whatever was going on there, it was not nearly as simple as hate or dislike or avoid. He spent a lot of time trying to puzzle it out. If it were just hate, then presumably there would be a lot more shouting and seething and snide comments. Neither of them seemed interested in going that route, though. If it were just dislike, Patrick had to wonder, then wouldn't their interactions always go the same way? But it seemed like every time Brian and Daisuke ended up in the same room, something different happened. And if it were just avoid... they were doing it wrong. Very, very wrong.

An arm wrapped around his shoulder and Yuna leaned all the way into his space, tilting her head at the same angle, as if she were trying to see the exact picture he saw -- Brian and Daisuke sitting at the same table, Stephane Lambiel in between them gesticulating wildly as he talked. As far as Patrick could tell, both Brian and Daisuke were listening to Stephane, but neither of them seemed to be aware of the other's existence. Like, they couldn't even be said to be ignoring each other, they were in such separate worlds. And yet, they never talked over each other, either, not once so far this lunch period.

This was made all the more strange by the fact that Mao, who was sitting on the other side of Daisuke, Tomas, who was sitting on the other side of Brian, and Alban, Nobunari, Takahiko, Johnny, and Adam, who were sitting across from them, all seemed to be holding some kind of complicated sign language conversation amongst themselves, one that Brian and Daisuke seemed remarkably oblivious to. They were at what had traditionally been the Gryffindor table, though no one kept to Houses during meals these days -- it was decided after the 2002 crisis that school unity was as important as House unity, so students were encouraged to mingle more. They had also started to admit students from all over the world, as a bid for even more unity. Still, even in these more open and inclusive times, it was fairly unusual to see a group like this, one that included students from all four Houses as well as from three different continents.

"They're doing it wrong," Patrick informed Yuna in his best quiet, under the radar gossip voice. If they had been here ten years ago, Yuna probably wouldn't have even given Patrick the time of day, as everyone knew that Slytherins from back then hated Muggles. Patrick was only sort of a Muggle -- he was the son of two Squibs who had completely quit magical society until that incident from when he was six with Patrick and the neighbor's dog and his balloons from the zoo turning into candy) -- but that would have been enough to make all Slytherins despise him, even Yuna.

Patrick was terribly glad that they lived now instead. He would have missed Yuna if she'd hated him. Not that he would've known to miss her, he supposed. It would have sucked, anyway.

Yuna looked at him in surprise. "I didn't think they were doing it at all. Don't they hate each other? I heard from Joannie last week they had another fight on the Quidditch pitch, like if World War III was a Cold War and all the nuclear weapons were "I am ignoring you" bombs."

"No, I didn't mean..." Patrick shook his head rapidly. "Nevermind. Can you pass me the pumpkin juice?"

"But isn't that what that means? Doing it? I thought I had that one right." Yuna pulled out the little notebook she used for jotting down English phrases and squinted at one of the pages. She held it out to him, pointing at the page, "See, "doing it," an idiomatic way of saying--"

Patrick cut her off -- it was for her own good; anyone could be eavesdropping on them right now, and talking about sex when there were Professors around was not usually a good call. They weren't anywhere near High Table, but it was better to be safe than sorry. "No, no, I mean, yes, sometimes, but other times it just means what it sounds like, that people do all sorts of things and you can talk about them doing a particular thing by saying that they're doing it. It depends on the context, what the "it" is, you know?"

Yuna eyed him doubtfully. "I guess. But it seems confusing."

"Yeah, well. That's English for you." Patrick smiled at her.

Yuna passed him the pumpkin juice.

~

After breakfast, Tessa slipped away from Scott's side to link arms with Patrick as they walked to Herbology.

"So!" said Tessa brightly. Patrick absolutely did not trust her happy voice. Tessa had what could be considered an absolute tell -- her only truly unstudied voice was the dreamy one that made her sound half in another world, and it didn't happen very often at all. All her others had an element of performativity to them. Patrick figured that was just what happened when you grew up in the Wizarding aristocracy, every move you made at every event carefully observed by your parents' "friends" from the age of 4 on up. Scott had it, too, though it was a little easier to get to his half-awake voice -- just put him next to Tessa and give them a problem to solve, and they would be on it like white on rice. (Patrick jotted down a mental note to use that phrase around Yuna sometime soon, she would love it.) It was like they shared a brain sometimes, finishing each others' sentences without even realizing they were doing it, and Scott would actually pretty often say something without running it through the filter first.

Scott and Tessa were both in Slytherin because -- as Tessa once explained to him -- if they'd been sorted into a different House, their families would have thrown absolute _fits_. Like Yuna, they mostly hung out with the Hufflepuffs, though.

"You guys throw the best parties," Scott had told him once during their third year. They had been lying upside down on one of the common room couches with their ankles hooked over the back, happily dizzy from butterbeer, listening to the slightly manic soundtrack of Jeremy and Meryl and Ryan singing showtunes in four-part harmony. No, Patrick wasn't sure how the three of them had managed four-part harmony, but that was beside the point. Hufflepuff did throw an awesome party.

"Earth to Patrick. Come in, Patrick." Tessa peered into his face. "Chan!" Tessa barked.

Patrick focused on her. "What? You don't have to yell, I'm right here."

Tessa laughed. "Yeah, no. Your body's here, but your mind? Not so much."

Patrick smiled wryly. "Sorry. I guess I got distracted."

"Psh." Tessa made a little flapping motion with her free hand. "I'll forgive you. As long as you tell me what you and Yuna were just talking about it. Was it Adam? It better have been Adam, else I owe Scott a week of Transfigurations homework and you _know_ what a terrible idea that is."

Tessa had a tendency to go a little overboard when working on Transfigurations, resulting in things like singing lamps and huffy chairs and quills that were smarter than you and told you so every three minutes. Which wouldn't be so bad if it all stayed down in the Slytherin dungeons, but somehow her creations had a way of permeating the Castle, and quite effectively resisted any atttempts to turn them back. Hufflepuff had a whole trunk of random loud objects that they were planning to unleash on Tessa someday, all at once... as long as they could get through Scott, of course.

Why was he thinking about this?

He glanced at Tessa, who was watching him with barely-concealed impatience. Oh right, she'd asked him a question.

"Adam?" Patrick was confused. Why would Yuna be talking about Adam?

"Darn it all, it wasn't Adam? I could've sworn... never mind." Tessa shook her head. "So what was it?"

Patrick looked down at her hand on his arm and wished devoutly for someone to come save him. Unsurprisingly, no one did.

"Well?" Tessa demanded.

"N-Nothing," Patrick replied. He tried not to think about Brian and Daisuke and their strange behavior, just in case Tessa had developed Legilimency when he wasn't looking. "I just noticed that they had all four Houses at that table, and I thought it was weird. Didn't you?"

Tessa narrowed her eyes at him. "No." Then she smiled. "Walk faster, or we'll be late to class."

"I'm not the one stopping for inexplicable conversation!" Patrick protested. But he sped up a little. He hated being late.

**Author's Note:**

> Patrick, Yuna, Tessa, Scott, Adam, Meryl, Mao, Nobunari, and Takahiko are all in Year 5. Daisuke, Brian, Stephane, Johnny, Tomas, Alban, Ryan, and Jeremy are all in Year 6.


End file.
